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Everything has been going right for the Los Angeles Lakers lately. They entered Tuesday's game against the Utah Jazz having won their last three games, and with the Jazz completely depleted by injuries, they seemingly had a clear path to not only win their fourth consecutive game, but clinch at least a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament. With that in mind, the Lakers might've taken the Jazz a bit lightly knowing that a historic battle with the Clippers looms tomorrow. Utah took advantage of that. The Lakers led 124-114 with 1:43 left in the Game , but a 10-0 Jazz run sent the Game to overtime . Utah even led the Lakers with one minute remaining in overtime . An Austin Reaves jumper gave the Lakers the lead back, but former Laker Talen Horton-Tucker tied the Game back up at 133 at the free throw line. But after a timeout, the most famous Laker had perhaps his biggest moment of the season. L...

Kevin Durant will make his return to action next Wednesday when the Phoenix Suns host the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. Durant suffered a sprained ankle during warmups ahead of a Game against his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and has been out recovering from that injury ever since. He missed almost two months earlier in the season while recovering from an MCL sprain. Durant has played only three games for the Suns since being traded from the Brooklyn Nets in February. If he plays in all seven of Phoenix's final games starting with that Wednesday tilt with the Timberwolves, that will boost his Suns total to 10 games. This creates the potential for a bit of history. No NBA champion has ever been led by a player who gave them more playoff games than regular-season appearances. Even if Phoenix swept through all four rounds of the playoffs, they'd have to p...

The pain of the Dallas Mavericks allowing Jalen Brunson to leave for the Knicks seems to get worse every day. As Brunson and the Knicks are thriving, the Mavericks, after a desperate play to trade for Kyrie Irving, are spiraling way out of contention and perhaps into the lottery.  Now Brunson is twisting the knife even deeper.  In an interview with Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes, Brunson revealed that he wanted to stay for the long haul with the Mavericks, who reportedly could've had him for half of what he got from the Knicks.  From Haynes: Prior to the 2021-22 season, he was eligible for a four-year, $55.5 million extension. It was an offer Brunson's camp would have accepted if the Mavericks made it, sources tell B/R. In January 2022, his representatives tried to initiate dialogue on getting a deal done, but the Mavericks resisted. Brunson began cementing himself as the second-best player on the tea...

With the regular season winding down in a couple weeks that typically means a lot of meaningless Game s across the league as playoff contenders try to rest players in preparation for something bigger and lottery-bound squads roll out younger lineups with nothing left worth fighting for. However, this season has been a weird one in that we're just three weeks away from the last day of the regular season and only three teams have been eliminated from playoff contention. As a result we've gotten some high-intensity basketball in March, especially from some rookies. Guys like Jalen Williams are making major strides in their development, while others, like Jabari Smith Jr., are finally showcasing their full offensive capabilities. With so much still up for grabs in terms of playoff positioning we're in for a treat down the final stretch of the regular season. Now it's time to break down this week's...

With less than a month remaining in the NBA regular season, it's time to start taking a serious look at the playoff picture -- not only in terms of who's in and who's out but also in terms of matchups. It's not uncommon to see teams jockeying for the seed that they want in the final days of the regular season, even if it's a lower seed, in order to get the first-round opponent they feel they have the best chance to beat. It's still a bit too early to tell which teams could pull some shenanigans and sit their best players on the last day of the season, but there are two teams likely hoping that the standings don't end up in a certain configuration. The Western Conference No. 1 seed Denver Nuggets and the Eastern Conference No. 3 seed Philadelphia 76ers could both face unprecedented roads to a potential championship. No NBA team has ever beaten the previous three conference champion...

Dillon Brooks and Draymond Green threw gasoline on the most heated rivalry in the NBA this week, and their mutual distaste for one another persisted after the Memphis Grizzlies blew out the Golden State Warriors, 131-110, on Thursday. Their issues began last postseason, when Green was ejected from Game 1 of their playoff series against each other. Brooks was tossed from Game 2 and suspended for a dirty hit on Warriors guard Gary Payton II. The two have traded barbs ever since, but Brooks took it to a new level last week in an ESPN profile. "I don't like Draymond at all," Brooks told ESPN's Tim Keown. "I just don't like Golden State. I don't like anything to do with them. Draymond talks a lot. Gets away with a lot, too." As you can imagine, Green didn't take too kindly to that. On his podcast , The Draymond Green Show, he unloaded on Brooks. "If you ever wondered why the...

Orlando Magic big man Jonathan Isaac will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn left adductor muscle, the team said Friday. "Our thoughts are with Jonathan, whose fortitude in dealing with adversity is unique," Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said in a statement. "Jonathan has worked extremely hard to return to the court this season and has demonstrated his impact on our team. We will be by his side as he focuses on the work ahead." Isaac has been dealing with significant injuries throughout his entire NBA career. Most notably, he missed the past two season s while recovering from a torn ACL he suffered while playing in the 2020 Orlando bubble. Due to that injury , he was sidelined from August 2020 until January 2023. He briefly returned for the Magic this season , and while his role was limited and his numbers were underwhelming, he d...

Mac McClung was regarded as a bit of an odd choice to headline the 2023 NBA Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night. The 24-year-old guard has played in only two NBA Game s, neither of which came this season. When his participation was announced, fans even mocked the league for failing to convince bigger stars to the once proud event. Well, nobody's laughing now. McClung stole the show with one of the best Slam Dunk performances in recent memory. Four attempts. Four dunks. Three perfect scores. One trophy. In one night, a player many viewers had never heard of managed to join the ranks of Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter and Michael Jordan in the dunk contest history books. But who is? Let's dive into the life and career of Mac McClung, the G-Leaguer-turned Slam Dunk champion . So why was McClung here in the first place? McClung may not have proven himself as an NBA player, but his credentials as a dunker are well-...

LeBron James has always been a bit dramatic in his dealings with the officials, but lately he's dialed it up to 11 after a string of close losses were affected by questionable decisions. He grumbled in the locker room after a January loss to the Dallas Mavericks. He had one of the great on-court meltdowns following a bad call you'll ever see against the Boston Celtics. He openly criticized them after a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. "And all year they keep telling me to my face on the court, 'I didn't see it' or 'It wasn't a foul,'" James wrote on Twitter. "It's not making sense to me seriously! Frustrating as hell man!" On Sunday, he once again used his enormous platform to go after the refs, but this time, he did so in a different sport. James attended Super Bowl 57 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, and while he had no ties to either...

The 2023 NBA trade deadline is rapidly approaching. Teams now have three days to finalize their remaining Business before the trade market is closed for the season at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 9. Some teams, like the Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks , may look to get things done ahead of time, but others will be working the phones right up until the final minutes.  As the rumor mill continues to churn, here's a look at some of the latest news and notes from around the league: Nets, Mavericks make Irving trade official The Nets-Mavericks blockbuster involving Kyrie Irving was reported on Sunday but did not become official until early on Monday evening. That's because the Nets were exploring options to expand the deal into a three-team trade. One such possibility the Nets were interested in, according to Marc Stein, was acquiring Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet. Stein added that the Nets were int...